Stroke Prevention Info

New Stroke-Prevention Guidelines for Women Could Save Lives

By Lisa Collier Cool
Feb 06, 2014

Every year, stroke kills more US women than men, prompting the first ever stroke prevention guidelines specifically for women, jointly issued by the American Stroke Association and American Heart Association. Stroke ranks as the third leading killer of women, and the fifth leading cause of death in men. Overall, about 60 percent of stroke fatalities occur in women.

The groundbreaking new guidelines, published as a scientific statement in the journal Stroke, give medical providers evidence-based recommendations on how best to treat women’s stroke risks, including those associated with pregnancy, birth control pills, migraine headaches with aura, and other factors.

“Having specific guidelines for preventing stroke in women by treating their unique risks is hugely important, not only for physicians who treat women, but also for women themselves,” says Irene Katzan, MD, a stroke neurologist at Cleveland Clinic.

“Most women don’t know that they have a higher lifetime risk for stroke than men do—or that it’s striking both men and women at younger ages than in the past—including an increasing number of people in their 40s,” adds Dr. Katzan.

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A Deadly Gap in Women’s Knowledge About Stroke

“It’s crucial to raise women’s awareness that they have a higher lifetime risk for stroke than men do, because the guidelines report a dangerous or even fatal gap in women’s knowledge about this killer condition,” reports Amy Doneen, ARNP, medical director of the Heart Attack & Stroke Prevention Center in Spokane, Washington.

“Awareness of stroke warning signs is higher in women than in men, yet women stillwait longer than men to go to the ER when they experience these symptoms, leading to higher rates of death and disability from stroke because of delays in treatment,” adds Doneen. “One way these guidelines could help save women’s lives is by alerting them to their risk, leading women to get help faster if a stroke hits.”

Delayed arrival at the hospital after a stroke is the single most important reason for not receiving potentially lifesaving treatments, such as clot-busting drugs like tPA, within the eligible treatment window of 3 to 4.5 hours. This type of treatment can also help prevent or reduce brain damage from an ischemic (clot-induced) stroke, the most common form of stroke.

The ASA/AHA scientific statement bears this out, reporting that about 200,000 more American women than men are now living with stroke-related disabilities, which affect about 50 percent of stroke survivors. Overall, 3.8 million American women and 3 million men have survived one or more strokes, according to the statement.

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Women’s Unique Stroke Risks—and How Doctors Should Treat them

The new guidelines highlight a variety of stroke risks that are unique to women, and advise medical providers to use the following strategies to reduce these risks:

·         Women should be screened for high blood pressure before medical providers prescribe birth control pills, because the combination of the two raises stroke risk. High blood pressure is the no. 1 risk factor for stroke, reports Doneen, who is also the coauthor of Beat the Heart Attack Gene.

·         Women with a history of high blood pressure prior to pregnancy should be evaluated for treatment with low-dose aspirin and/or calcium supplements to lower risk for preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication marked by high blood pressure, swelling, sudden weight gain and protein in the urine after the 20^thweek of pregnancy. Women who develop preeclampsia have double the risk of stroke and quadruple the risk for high blood pressure later in life, compared to women who don’t suffer this complication.

·         Pregnant women with moderately high blood pressure (between 150/100 and 159/109) should be considered for medication to reduce it, while moms-to-be with severe high blood pressure (160/110 or above) should be treated with blood pressure-reducing drugs.

·         Women who suffer migraine headaches with aura—marked by visual changes, such as vision loss or flashing or shimmering lights, numbness or unusual sensations on one side of the body, or impaired speech prior to a migraine headache—should quit smoking to avoid increased stroke risk. This type of migraine doubles stroke risk, with a stronger association between stroke risk and migraine with aura in women than in men. The reasons for this link are not yet known, says Dr. Katzan. In women with this disorder, smoking magnifies risk up to 900 percent, according to the guidelines.

·         Women over age 75 should be checked for atrial fibrillation, which boosts stroke risk by up to 500 percent. The older you are, the more this type of irregular heartbeat heightens stroke danger. The condition is often treated with blood-thinning drugs to decrease risk for a clot that could travel to the brain and trigger a stroke.

·         A healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise, avoiding smoking, and a diet high in fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, olive oil and even moderate amounts of alcohol (less than one drink daily for women who are not pregnant) and low in saturated fat is advised for stroke prevention in women with cardiovascular risk factors.  

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/first-ever-stroke-prevention-guidelines-women-could-save-lives

 

As Always, Be Blessed....... :-)
Nykea Williams